Truck storage and work surface tailgate

ABSTRACT

A storage compartment and integrated tailgate worksurface to be easily retrofitable to any standard or light duty pick-up type truck bed, whereby a parallel linkage mechanism and integrated power unit can raise and lower the tailgate assembly without rotation, thereby keeping objects in an initial desired orientation and placement, as well as positioning them and the integrated tailgate worksurface at a convenient adjustable working height.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] I. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to the automotive light truckaccessory field, primarily to accessories which enhance the practicalutility of the truck for additional uses such as the storage andorganization of tools and equipment, and the convenient assess and useof such tools and equipments, and transport of cargos particularlysuited to such trucks.

[0003] II. Description of the Relevant Art.

[0004] Pick-up type trucks are an essential tool for both transportationto and from job sites, and for tool and equipment storage andorganization, and can also provide a convenient workplace to conduct jobrelated task and activities. Most pick-up trucks in production todayhave uncovered beds to which is attached a hinged tailgate panel. Thistailgate typically is hinged to allow the tailgate to fold flat with theplane of the truck bed in order to facilitate easy access for loadingand unloading cargo. This horizontal surface can also serve as aconvenient height work surface for assembling and working on a varietyof objects in the field. Popular today also are truck storagecontainers, which either mount inside of the pickup truck bed, ofstraddle across the bed width, or mount along the length of the bed.Usually these are of heavy-duty construction, and are accessible bystanding inside of the bed, or alongside of the truck. There arenumerous practical disadvantages to their use, since open easy access isusually not possible due to the increasing height of the trucks today,the accessibility of objects and tools placed at the bottom or thecenter of these containers is impossible unless one climbs onto the bedof the pickup and bends over . . . tasks which are inconvenient andwhich are susceptible to worker injury. Also, unlocking and opening thecovers to these cargo boxes can be made difficult by their height andinconvenient location.

[0005] Another disadvantage of units presently available is theirincursion and use of cargo volumetric space, limiting the useful loadcarrying space available, such as carrying 4 ft by 8 ft plywood sheets,large building materials, etc. Additionally, the design aspects ofcurrently available tool storage boxes do not integrate into thevehicle's design appearance, and often detract from the vehicleappearance.

[0006] Accordingly, these prior approaches have failed to meet many ofthe needs of pickup truck owners.

III. SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0007] The present invention provides for easy and convenient tool andcargo storage, which can be easily retrofitted together with or in lieuof a standard pickup truck tailgate. It provides for the convenientaccess to tools and other items at any desired working height. It alsocan serve as a work-surface level with the existing pickup bed height,and will allow for easy loading and sliding of cargo load from thelowered tailgate surface into the pickup bed. The invention isself-powered from within, requiring only existing electrical connectionsfrom the pickup truck to implement it's raising and lowering function.The invention allows for full usage of the original cargo volume, andprovides for normal unrestricted access to the cargo for easy loadingand unloading. The invention can also match the existing styling schemeof the pickup truck to which it is attached, and can have provisionmounting of the original equipment tailgate assembly to preserve thevehicles original design intent.

[0008] A more specific design of this truck cargo storage and worksurface tailgate invention is described at length and depicted in thediagrams.

[0009] The truck cargo storage and work surface tailgate inventionconsists of a box like cargo container assembly slidably mounted so asto fit into the rear portion of the cargo area of a pickup type truckbed. This assembly has an external rear directed face to which isattached the standard production issue tailgate, which maintains thestyling and contours of the original vehicle design. The volumetricusable cargo spaces defined by the interior cargo box dimensions occupysome fraction of the interior space of the rear pickup bed area when theinvention is in the raised, normal condition. By use of a slidingextensible carrier, the original bed length and volumetric dimensions ofthe truck can be maintained. However, instead accessing the pickup bedby a unlatching mechanism of a hinged stock tailgate assembly, thepresent invention utilizes an electric powered winch or hydraulicactuator assembly to effect a non-rotational translation vis-à-vis aparallel linkage mechanism to translate and lower the tailgate and cargocontainer assembly to a much lowered position . . . so that to the userstanding before it, the top lid opening of the cargo box container isnow at the height of the pickup bed surface, thus making access to thecargo box container easy and convenient. The user can also raise andlower the attached original issue tailgate component as usual, thusproviding a convenient worksurface and lifting device. A usefulprovision for the sliding extension when the invention is in the raisedposition is to maintain the original truck cargo area volume anddimensions, thus allowing transport of large plywood sheets, buildingmaterials, etc, as the truck was originally intended. Closure of thecargo box container lid while in the lowered position also allows thelid surface to be used as a worksurface for such tasks as mounting orusing tools, positioning objects to be worked upon, or for sliding largecargo to and from the rest of the pickup truck bed. Another usefulprovision is the incorporation of a lift gate feature which can raiseloads from ground level to the height of the pickup bed by means of asimply opening the standard issue tailgate component, thus effecting apowered lift gate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The present invention will be more fully understood by referenceto the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference characters refer to like partsthroughout the views, and in which:

[0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention showing theinvention in the fully retracted and closed position.

[0012]FIG. 2A is a side view showing the raised and closed perspectiveof the invention

[0013]FIG. 2B is a side view showing the raised and extended perspectiveof the invention with the stock issue tailgate raised.

[0014]FIG. 2C is a side view showing the raised and lowered perspectiveof the invention with the stock issue tailgate raised.

[0015]FIG. 2D is a side view showing the raised and lowered perspectiveof the invention with the stock issue tailgate lowered.

[0016]FIG. 3 is an cut-away view of the invention, revealing theactuation and powered mechanisms.

[0017]FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the features of the poweredlift gate assembly

[0018]FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing operation of the bed mountedextensible slide assembly.

[0019]FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the constituent elements ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENTINVENTION

[0020] The drawings describe the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. While the configuration s according to the illustratedembodiments are preferred, it is envisioned that alternativeconfigurations of the present invention may be adopted without deviatingfrom the invention as portrayed. The preferred embodiment is discussedhereafter.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, shown is the conventional appearance of thepresent invention when fully retraced and closed. Truck bed 1, and trucklift gate 2, are standard issue and remain the same as original vehicleissue, with bolted right slide 4 and left slide 5 attached to the truckbed sides as shown. Likewise, referring to FIG. 2-A, is shown theconventional appearance of the present invention.

[0022] Referring to FIG. 2-B, the truck tailgate storage box structure13 is shown in the up position. Storage box structure 13 can be ofgenerally rectangular construction of heavy gage steel or aluminum, andwelded or assembled by conventional bolts and screws to form a box likecontainer having at least 4 planar surfaces having at least 3 sides anda bottom. Shown in FIG. 4 are the essential sides 20, 21 and 22 of boxstructure 13, and bottom 25. Attached to the face 29 of the boxstructure 13 is the stock issue truck tailgate assembly 2. Latching pins28, as shown in FIG. 2-C, allows the tailgate assembly 2 to latch andrelease by use of the standard tailgate release handle 8 shown in FIG.1.

[0023] Referring to FIG. 5-A, the left side sliding rail assembly 5 iscomprised of base support plate 30, which is bolted or otherwiseattached to the truck bed sidewalls shown in the other figures. Tworoller bearings 19 and 32 are fixedly attached to support plate 30, witha fixed predefined vertical spacing, so as to allow sliding rail 15 totranslate between a fully extended position shown in FIG. 5-A, and anfully retracted position as shown in FIG. 5-B. Hard stop tab 31, asshown in FIG. 5-A, is attached or welded to rail 15, and thus preventsthe sliding rail 15 from overextending when the toolbox assembly is inthe fully extended position as shown in FIGS. 2-B and 2-C. It should beobvious that right pickup bed rail assembly 4 as shown in FIG. 1 is amirrored functional equivalent to the left pickup bed rail assembly 5just described.

[0024] Referring to FIGS. 2-B and 2-C, it can be seen that the raisingand lowering of storage box structure 13 is effected by a parallellinkage mechanism comprised of a pair of right side and left side links11 and 12. Cable 14 is fixedly attached to rail assembly 4, andterminates onto an electric winch assembly 26, located approximatelyrearwardly centered on storage box structure bottom 25. Thus, to raiseand lower the storage box structure 13 and attached tailgate assembly 2,powered switch 27 located at some convenient position, and is switchedbetween a raised or lowered position setting, thereby activating theappropriate winch 26 and/or 24 direction, to in effect lengthen orshorten cables 14. The parallel linkage mechanisms 11 and 12 only allowfor horizontal and vertical translation, without substantially effectingthe rotation of storage box structure 13. Thus, the contents of storagebox structure 13 are not disturbed from their organized position. Powerfor winch and associated circuitry would be obtained from connection tothe vehicle electrical system, or by us of a small optional batterylocated within the storage box structure 13. Storage box structure lid3, as shown in FIG. 6, is hinged and can be lockable, allowing access tothe contents of storage box structure 13 when it is in any orientation,either raised or lowered, or retracted or extended. Likewise, trucktailgate 2 can be likewise raised or lowered in any of the allowableorientations of storage box structure 13, either raised or lowered, orretracted or extended. This feature allows the tailgate to still be usedas an adjustable height worksurface when in the folded down position.Also, by incorporating suitable locking features into the inventionsslide mechanisms, the invention can be locked into the raised, extendedposition of FIG. 2-B, allowing for a full pickup bed cargo volume to beloaded, transported, and unloaded easily.

[0025] Thus there has been described an invention which allows for theconvenient access and use of a truck storage cargo container and worksurface tailgate. Such an invention is not limited to a particularstyle, model, or vintage of truck, as minor modifications to dimensionsonly will accommodate a wide variety of available trucks. Havingdescribed my invention, many modifications will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which it pertains without deviation from thespirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A truck cargo storage container and work surface tailgatewhich comprises the elements of a cargo storage container somewhat lessin width to the width of the truck cargo bed, fitted to the existingstructure of said pickup truck cargo bed which can non-rotationallytranslate to a raised position interior to the original truck cargo bedvolume and lowered position somewhat exterior to said original truckcargo bed volume.
 2. A truck cargo storage container and work surfacetailgate of claim 1 having provision for a powered lifting mechanismmounted within the volumetric spaces of said truck cargo storagecontainer and powered from the vehicles electrical system
 3. A truckcargo storage container and work surface tailgate of claim 1 havingprovision for a powered lifting mechanism mounted exterior to thevolumetric spaces of said truck cargo storage container and powered fromthe vehicles electrical system
 4. A truck cargo storage container andwork surface tailgate of claim 1 having a hinged lockable top surfacelid.
 5. A truck cargo storage container and work surface tailgate ofclaim 1 having provisions for hinged mounting of the truck standardissue tailgate assembly.
 6. A truck cargo storage container of havingslidable provisions for first extending a mounted storage container froman initial retracted position to an extended position, before effectinga non-rotational translation to a lowered position.
 7. A truck cargostorage container and work surface tailgate of claim 5 having provisionfor a powered lifting mechanism mounted within the volumetric spaces ofsaid truck cargo storage container and powered from the vehicleselectrical system.
 8. A truck cargo storage container and work surfacetailgate of claim 5 having a hinged lockable top surface lid.
 9. A truckcargo storage container and work surface tailgate of claim 5 havingprovisions for hinged mounting of the truck standard issue tailgateassembly.